by Jan Stryvant
When It Falls
Published by Jan Stryvant
Copyright 2018 Jan Stryvant
Copyright Jan Stryvant 2018
Cover Credits: eBook Launch (http://ebooklaunch.com/)
No part of this eBook may be reproduced in any form without expressed, written consent from the author. The material in this story may feature graphic depictions of a sexual or adult nature and is intended for a mature audience only. All characters in this story are fictional and of the legal age of consent for any activities they engage in. Any resemblance between characters, places, or things in this story and people living or dead, actual places, or events, is purely coincidental. It's fiction, I made it up.
License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be copied and given away, or copied and sold, to other people. Got that? No copying, please! If you would like to share this book with another person, it would be really nice if you purchased an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use, then please consider purchasing your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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Jan Stryvant Books:
The Valens Legacy
Black Friday Book 1
Perfect Strangers Book 2
Over Our Heads Book 3
Head Down Book 4
When It Falls Book 5
Shadow
Us ....
... And Them
Logistics
Thievery Corporation
Stuck on the Chain Gang
Look up
An Unexpected Turn of Events
Back to Square One
Two Steps Forward
Vanished
Family
Not Responsible
Might Just Take Your Life
The Sorceress Guild
Robbery, Assault, & Battery
Misdirection
Mountain Home
Friday
Sacramento
Get Ready
Get Set
Go!
Afterword
Us ....
Sean looked around the dining area as he stopped in for a moment to get some lunch while taking a break from enchanting in his workshop. It was positively packed.
He had a hundred and seventy-seven people living in the building now, not counting him and the girls. The empty shop space on the first floor had been turned into temporary living quarters, and another forty some-odd had moved onto the third floor, along with the four dark elves, who were all living in a room together.
They'd even bought some tents and moved a few people up onto the roof until they were able to figure things out.
To say Oak was overwhelmed as the building manager was an understatement. Roxy had stepped up and taken control of everything, enlisting Daelyn's aid immediately. Sean had to admit he wasn't all that surprised by how quickly Roxy had stepped up and taken over. She hadn't hesitated to step up back when he'd first been bit by Sampson; Roxy was a very headstrong and capable young woman, as more than a few of the new werewolves were now discovering.
Sean was a little surprised at first that Roxy had appointed Daelyn her second, but then Daelyn was really the only one who'd stand up to Roxy and speak her mind. Considering that they'd just picked up an additional hundred plus lycans who were all different levels of shell-shocked, obviously Roxy wanted someone who wouldn't be afraid to stand up and read the riot act to any that needed it.
"Master Sean, it's good to see you!"
Sighing Sean turned to see Deidre and Cali, the older two of the four dark elves he'd rescued yesterday from the Ascendant's, standing behind him.
They were both incredibly gorgeous. Deidre was about five foot eight, with long white hair that came down past her shoulders, red eyes, and the darkest skin Sean had ever seen in his life. She was tall and slender with a nice bust and a lovely fine featured face, her long hair easily obscuring her ears that were pointed, but thankfully not as long as the elves in the online games Sean used to play. Age wise she looked to be late twenties, early thirties, but Sean knew she was actually about a hundred.
Cali was the same height as Deidre, and possessed of the same slender build, but that was where the similarities ended. Cali's hair was red, a deep dark red, which while it was a color Sean had seen on women before, made her even more striking because of her black skin and green eyes. Cali was also a little bustier than Deidre, as in Victoria's Secret model busty. Her face was as beautiful as Deidre's, honestly all four of them were drop-dead gorgeous, but Cali looked to be in her late teens, appearance wise. Sean knew that she was actually over eighteen, if only barely, which made her young for an elf.
"Deidre, Cali," Sean smiled and took a moment to look them both over, they were both wearing jeans and t-shirts, the later of which was doing nothing to hide what was under the fabric that was stretched thin by their chests, as neither one was wearing a bra. All in all, they were very much worth looking at. He'd have to talk to Jolene or Peg, and get them to take the girls shopping, seeing as they'd come here with absolutely nothing, not even clothing, and had been reduced to whatever they could borrow.
"I trust that things are going well for the both of you?"
Deidre nodded and Cali blushed, noticing his frank assessment of their outfits.
"Much better that I had hoped for a couple of days ago," Deidre smiled attractively at him with a nod as she stepped forward into his personal space and put her hand on his arm.
"I'd really like to thank you, personally, for saving the four of us," she continued in that lovely voice of hers.
"Oh, you're more than welcome," Sean said and smiled at both of them.
"I was thinking perhaps of a more personal welcome? Perhaps later this evening?" Deidre said with a winning smile.
"You don't have to do that," Sean told her.
"Which is all the more reason why I'd like to," Deidre smiled.
Sean smiled back; the idea of a romp in bed with her was definitely an attractive one.
"I just might take you up on that, Deidre," Sean chuckled, "if things ever settle down around here and I have the time."
Deidre cocked her head to the side and looked at him curiously, "The time, Master Sean?"
Still smiling Sean rolled his eyes, "It's just Sean, really."
"Of course, Master Sean," Deidre said with a wink, "but I was inquiring as to what took up so much of your time?"
"Well, there's all of this of course," Sean waved at the crowd of people.
"I thought your wives were taking care of that?"
"Organizing everyone? Yeah. The paperwork? No."
"Paperwork?" Deidre blinked at him, "What paperwork?"
Sean sighed, "I'm making them all employees, so I can give them jobs, real jobs, and pay them money so they can become more independent and have an actual legal existence. I'm going to open up a restaurant, and I already have a car detailing business. So that means accounting, tax forms, legal paperwork, paychecks. The whole nine yards."
"Oh!" Deidre looked around at all the people, and Sean noticed a subtle shift in her expression, "So you need a bookkeeper, as well as someone to deal with the regulatory paperwork."
"Exactly," Sean said with a nod.
"Have I mentioned that I'm a trained accountant, and that I kept the books for my family's three shops back in the Netherlands?"
Sean blinked, surprised. "I had no idea," he admitted, "and if you want the job, I'd be very grateful if you'd take it."
"Oh? Just how grateful?" Deidre asked, curious.
"You won't have to sleep with me to guarantee that you won't ever be kicked out?" Sean said with a smile. "You'd
get a salary, a place to live, and you wouldn't have to call me 'Master' anymore."
"Maybe I want to sleep with you," Deidre teased.
"After you've spent a couple of days doing my paperwork and dealing with all the government regulations, I'm sure that feeling will pass!" Sean laughed.
Deidre snorted, but she was still smiling, "You may have a point. So, where is all of this paperwork?"
"Upstairs, in my desk. Let's go up and I'll show you. Once we get all of this mess under control, I'll even see if we can get you an office."
Both of the women followed him upstairs and Sean got all of the paperwork out of the drawer he had it stuffed in, then pulled out his laptop and opened up the folder with all of the spreadsheets he was using as well.
"Hmmm," Deidre said looking over the papers as she rifled through the stack of papers. "This really is quite the mess, Master Sean, if you don't mind my saying."
"I have no idea what I'm doing, I'm not an accountant," Sean agreed. "So, do you think you can help me with this?"
Deidre looked up at him and smiled, "Of course, Master Sean. For you, I'd do anything," and she winked at him saucily.
"Then it's all yours," Sean motioned to the desk.
"I'll need my own laptop eventually."
"Talk to Roxy or Oak, let them know what you need. I really need to get some food and get back to my workshop."
"Workshop?" Deidre asked, "What are you working on?"
"More magic items, like the protection from scrying amulets you're both wearing, as well as more of the protection from silver tags."
Deidre's eyes widen a little, and he heard Cali gasp in surprise.
"You're an enchanter?"
Sean nodded, "Among other things, yes, and an extremely overworked one right now as well."
Deidre turned to Cali, "Go get Master Sean his lunch, and make sure you get a lot of it. Then bring it down to his workshop."
"Ja, hoor," Cali said and nodding she quickly left the room.
"I'm perfectly capable of getting my own food," Sean sighed.
Deidre patted his arm, "Of course you are, but you have work to do, and she doesn't. So why not let her help you?"
"You do have a point, I guess."
Deidre smiled, "Of course I do. Now, back to work with you, this is going to take all of my attention."
Smiling as he was dismissed, Sean went back down into the basement where his workshop was. Thankfully it was walled off from the rest of the basement, which now had quite a few people living in it as well. He'd have to figure out something to deal with that, but it could wait until later. Right now he had to start making more of those protective amulets, along with some of the other magical protections and other devices he'd been providing to his people.
At least he didn't have to worry about the bookkeeping anymore!
Cali came down about twenty minutes later with a large tray of food and a pitcher of water for him to drink.
"Thanks! I'm famished!" He told her as she set the tray down and smiled a little shyly at him.
"You're very welcome, Master Sean."
Sean again rolled his eyes at the 'Master' bit, but he was too hungry, and too busy eating to bother trying to correct her. He hadn't even realized that she'd sat on the edge of one of the tables in his workshop and was watching him, until he'd finished eating.
"Do you mind if I watch you work?" Cali asked in that soft melodic voice of hers.
Sean looked at her perched on the edge of the table, the t-shirt was stretched a bit tighter across her chest than before, he noticed, leaving nothing to the imagination.
"As long as you don't mind me getting naked," he told her.
"Naked?" Cali asked, looking at him with her head cocked slightly to the side.
"The technique I use has a tendency to set things on fire that are close to me and that includes my clothes."
"Oh," Cali said, and then blushed a little, which caused her facial features to darken. "Should I take off my clothing as well?"
Sean shook his head no. While he was just a tad bit tempted to say yes, he had seen her naked when they'd rescued her and the others yesterday. If she got naked now, he suspected he wouldn't be able to concentrate on his work, assuming that he even bothered doing it.
"That reminds me, don't come within three feet of me while I'm working, or you may get burned as well."
Cali nodded and Sean checked over the arrangement of items to be enchanted one last time, and then checked the spool of silver wire, his magical batteries, and the grounding rod. That done, he stripped naked and sitting down in the chair he nodded at Cali who was none too discreetly checking him out and got to work.
At this point in his life, the idea of being naked in the room with a beautiful exotic woman such as Cali didn't really bother him anymore. He had work to do, a lot of work. He needed to get back to enchanting that plate, and eventually back to building his machine to do all of the tag and collar enchanting without his having to be there. So while Cali or Deidre were rather lovely and even a bit tempting, with Roxy, Jolene, Daelyn, Peg and Roberta in his life, he wasn't sure he had time for yet another woman.
And that didn't even begin to take into account the conflict with the members of the council of Vestibulum, which was undoubtedly going to turn into a full-scale war soon. As much as he'd promised the dwarves to avoid starting one, the actions of the Vestibulum after his freeing of the lycans from the council of Ascendants' compound made it clear to Sean that they were a much more ruthless crowd than he had realized.
Knowing that now, he needed to make sure that the hundred some-odd people he'd just added to his group all had as much magical protection as he could provide them with, while Hunter and Sten, two of his team leads, went shopping for more weapons and body armor. Well, primarily body armor now. They'd at least liberated a lot of weapons along with the people.
Still, it was a daunting task and Sean didn't envy them in the least.
Dragging his attention back to what he was doing, lest he have an accident, Sean focused on his work.
... And Them
Morgan looked around the council chambers; the other members were all looking rather somber. But for all of that, the mood was still rather positive. Morgan suspected the only reason they were trying to look so solemn and restrained was because in this day and age one just didn't stand up and cheer after killing your enemies.
Morgan almost smiled at that, forty years ago, he'd bet they'd be having a party to celebrate.
"Gentlemen," Morgan said while doing his best to look calm and settled, "I feel congratulations are in order for all of us. While the raid on the Ascendants required us to do the sort of things that we are all very hesitant to do, we rose up as men, as the sons of our fathers, as the rightful heirs to the power that our forbearers secured for us, and we did what men do. We removed one of our most difficult opponents from our city, insuring once again our supremacy.
"At this time, the only council that even comes close to us in power, is the council of Sapientia, and as they have not been building up their forces, but instead have chosen to decrease them in light of the threats being made by the new leader of the lycans, we are now, more than ever, in an unquestionable position of power and authority."
Morgan paused as the other members smiled and nodded their heads in agreement.
"So, buoyed by this unqualified success, I think it is time for us to begin planning for the neutralization and removal of this new annoyance that has come to light.
"I'm speaking of course of the young Sean Valens. While he hasn't done anything against us yet, I think it's a fair assumption that he will come after us next?"
Morgan looked at the men at the table in turn as they all nodded.
"Good, I see that we're all in agreement," Morgan noticed that Jeffries had lifted his hand off of the table and now had a finger raised in question.
"Yes, Jeffries?"
"Considering the time and effort we put into framing the lycans
for the pruning of the local Ascendants, wouldn't we be better served by waiting for that affair to play out, before launching our own assault?"
Morgan gave a small shake of his head, "Everyone now knows how deadly and dangerous the lycan threat is. That we need to cull their numbers once more and get them firmly back under our control. As the leaders of the magical community, I'm sure they'll expect us to take the lead."
Jeffries nodded, "I'm willing to concede that, Morgan, however I think you and the others may wish to consider this: We know that they are currently well armed and have high morale after their latest success. I submit that if say the national organization for the Ascendants was to be made aware of the attack, they would surely send people here to respond."
"I'm not sure I follow your suggestion," Morgan said frowning slightly. "I can't say that I like the idea of more Ascendants showing up in our city after we just reduced their numbers."
Jeffries nodded, "Yes, I understand. However, consider this: whoever engages the lycans first is going to have the most difficult battle and lose the most resources and people. Especially in the counterattacks that will undoubtedly follow.
"Now myself, I'd rather see someone else suffer those losses. Then we can simply clean up the remaining survivors on both sides, with far less risk to our own people, while reducing the numbers of the Ascendants even further."
Morgan leaned back in his chair as several of the council members nodded slowly in agreement, as they considered Jeffries' words. Morgan had to admit that Jeffries' plan made sense. He also realized that perhaps it was time for him to start keeping a closer eye on Jeffries. Someone capable of such ideas may also be capable of challenging him.
"I like it," Morgan said nodding and smiling at Jeffries. "However, how do we ensure that the national leadership discovers what happened, and responds?"
Jeffries smiled then and gave the rest of them a look of feigned innocence, "Well, I may have accidentally let it slip, when I was talking to my mother-in-law last night."
